IGN: I saw your workstation on the airplane set. Can I assume the one that’s back-to-back with it is Sonya’s?

Aaron Stanford: No, Sonya has not been on the plane. We’ve been spending a little time apart. We haven’t broken up or anything like that, but she is sort of Alex’s attaché in this [season]. So she’s out in the field with Alex, and I’m basically with Ryan, Michael and Nikita.

IGN: In general, have you enjoyed getting to explore that entire relationship?

Stanford: It’s been great. It was really fun in Season 3, when it really, really came together. They’ve kind of taken a bit of a pause from it in Season 4, and they’re focusing on other stuff. I think they’re just letting you assume that all is well with Birkhoff and Sonya. So it’s nice to have a happy home for a little while, you know?

Don't mess with Birkhoff.

IGN: Lyndsy [Fonseca] told me there is a notable death before the end.

Stanford: It’s a good death, I’ll tell you that much. It’s a good death. When I read it, I said, “If you have to go out, that’s a great way to do it.” So it’ll be a character that’s missed. It’s a beloved character. People will feel it, but, you know, it’s drama. You have to have some loss.

IGN: Birkhoff’s capable guy. He was a Division agent, so we saw that he wasn’t just going to cower in a fight situation. But we’ve had some interesting storylines about how far he was going to go, and how he could process it if asked to cross certain lines. Have you liked getting to explore that without just turning him into a guy who’s suddenly a ninja?

Stanford: That was a lot of fun, and we definitely wanted to make sure that we stayed within the rules that we had established for our reality and Birkhoff’s reality. Like you said, we didn’t want to suddenly have Birkhoff busting out Jackie Chan moves, you know what I mean? He is very much involved in this world of espionage, and at a certain point, I think it was Season 2, where he really got into it, where he had to decide if he was going to straddle the fence or truly get involved in this stuff. That was going to mean probably taking some lives. He struggled with it but then rose to the occasion. I don’t think he has ever been involved in any kind of action that I didn’t believe he could believably live up to. It’s been fun, yeah.

IGN: When you guys go to something like Comic-Con and interact with the fans, what’s it like to see that obviously this show, while not a huge one in the ratings, has a fanbase that loves it so much and is so invested in it?

Stanford: It’s great. We’re very aware of that, because with social media now, people are on Twitter, and you just get constant positive feedback and tons of love. The amazing thing is that it’s from everywhere in the world that you can think of. It’s from every continent, country, city in the world that you can imagine. So that’s been very nice. It’s always nice to know that your work isn’t falling on deaf ears and there are people who are getting some enjoyment out of it. Comic-Con is fantastic, because you can come face to face with them. Yeah, I’ve had a great time the last two years I went.

IGN: What do you think it is about Birkhoff that’s struck a chord with the fans? They really feel protective of him and invested in him.

Stanford: Particularly at Comic-Con, there’s a lot of geeks there, so Birkhoff is them. He’s their way in. He’s kind of that for the series in general. He’s very much human. He’s a bit more fragile than Michael or Nikita. He’s not as ideal, and he’s not as perfect. He has a lot of flaws, and he’s had a lot of personality issues he’s had to overcome. He’s consumed by self-interest a lot of the time, and he does experience cowardice. These are all real things that people experience. He is the real person’s way into the show.

IGN: Lastly, veering in a different direction, I’m a big X-Men fan. Now as far as I know you’re not in Days of Future Past.

Stanford: I’m not, no.

IGN: But that movie’s existence is interesting in that that franchise went in a very different direction, but now things have circled back. Do you feel like, whereas a couple years ago it seemed like it might not be a possibility, you might be Pyro again at some point?

Stanford: I thought it was really amazing, yeah, when I heard that Bryan Singer was gonna direct another one. I was very excited about that because I had a great experience with him on X-Men 2. I thought he did a fantastic job with it. So I was excited about that, and then to hear that so many of the old cast members were going back, it was a huge surprise. I didn’t expect it at all. I would have loved to have been a part of this one. It would have been great, and I would have loved to have seen all my friends again, but who knows? There might be another movie after this, and maybe they’ll bring out some more old characters - they’ll get a chance.